Christina Applegate is sharing the emotional news that her father, Robert Applegate, recently died.
The Married With Children actress made the sad revelation on Tuesday’s episode of the MeSsy podcast that she cohosts with Jamie-Lynn Sigler.
“My dad just passed away a week ago,” she explained while tearing up. “This is the first time I’ve really cried. I think kind of, like, I wasn’t allowing myself to have that yet. Too busy with this, too busy with that.”
Gilbert Flores/Variety via Getty
Christina Applegate photographed in 2023
The Emmy winner said that her family had anticipated her father’s death, but it hadn’t made things any easier.
“Is that an excuse for not feeling?” Applegate said. “Because you know that someone’s gonna go? And you’ve said your goodbyes?”
Applegate and Sigler’s guest for the day was actress JoAnna Garcia Swisher, who planned to speak about the deaths of her own parents. So before they began talking, the Sopranos alum told Applegate that she hoped the conversation wouldn’t trigger her. Applegate assured her that she would be okay.
Applegate, 53, explained some of her relationship with her father: “You know, I didn’t grow up with my dad. He and my mom separated when I was five months old, but he’s been in my life ever since. I have two beautiful siblings and an amazing stepmother from [him].” But she said he wasn’t present in “the lessons part of life.”
In 2013, Applegate was featured on the genealogy series Who Do You Think You Are?, where she explained that her father had moved to the Big Sur region of California when he left. He appeared alongside her in some of the scenes, as she learned about his side of the family.
Sign up for Entertainment Weekly‘s free daily newsletter to get breaking TV news, exclusive first looks, recaps, reviews, interviews with your favorite stars, and more.
“My dad and mother split up when I was so young,” she said on the show. “I didn’t get to spend the kind of time with him that I think either he or I would have liked to have spent. But since I’ve had [daughter] Sadie, he’s spent a lot more time down here, which has been really nice. You know, we’re bonded because of blood, but we’re also bonded because I’m part of him and part of his personality.”
Applegate and Martyn LeNoble, her husband since 2013, welcomed their only child, daughter Sadie, in 2011.
Listen to the latest episode of the Messy podcast above.
Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly
